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“This’ll be enough for a temporary restraining order, but it’s Saturday, and the courts are closed until Monday—”
“So, you’re saying we’re on our own for two whole days?” Pete replied, his voice clipped and dripping with fury. The sheriff, and elderly man who I figured must know Pete from his youth based on the look on his face, only shrugged and tipped his hat.
“You of all people know how these things work, Greenway. I’ll go back to the precinct and see what can be done, what strings we can pull for you, since you’re our most loyal customer, and all.” The sheriff winked at Pete, but I was sure Pete was seeing red.
I couldn’t help but snort with silent laughter as Pete glowered at the sheriff, who turned on his heel and left the house.
Moira gave Pete and knowing look and went back into the kitchen to help Keely with breakfast while I sat on the couch in the living room. Holly was wide awake and chewing on the TV remote while sitting on my feet. She looked up at me with a slobbering grin that instantly made me feel better about everything.
“Are you hungry?” Pete asked, resting his hand near my neck on the back of the couch.
“No,” I breathed. “Tired, yes. I’m ready to go back to your apartment now.”
“We will soon. We’re just waiting on Dego.”
We’d been waiting on Dego since three in the morning.
“It’s taking him awhile,” I whispered, lifting Holly onto my lap. She squealed when I tried to take the remote from her, so I gave up. I only had the energy to fight one battle today, even if that meant Holly reprogrammed Grant and Moira’s fancy Smart TV.
“I’m sure everything’s fine—”
“Honestly,” I said, cutting him off. “I’m not sure I even want to know what they were up to. I don’t want to know if I’m in a conservatorship… if I was stupid enough to sign my life away to them without realizing it—I don’t care about my trust fund. I don’t want it. This has just been a mess, Pete. I dragged you into this—”
“Stop,” he said firmly as he jumped over the back of the couch to sit next to me. Holly gave him a look that reminded me of Moira as he settled next to us. “Stop apologizing for your psycho mother and your… well, I don’t even know how to describe your family at this point but none of this is your fault. Please, love—” He drew his breath and furrowed his brow. He obviously hadn’t meant to say it, but it was too late.
“Oh,” I said softly, giving him a tender smile. “I—”
The front door opened and Grant and Dego walked in, both of them looking a little flustered. Keely and Moira peeked around the archway leading into the dining room and kitchen.
Holly looked up at me.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Pete amended, struggling over the words as his cheeks turned pink.
Holly leaned into my chest, her weight a comfort as Dego rested his laptop on the coffee table in front of me and turned it so I could see the screen. I was aware of everyone around me. A hushed silence fell over the room, broken only by a whispered murmur from Keely, who left to check on something in the kitchen.
“Your parents had someone tracking your name,” he began, pulling up a webpage full of code. “Smart, if not very basic hacking. Anytime you used your name, it gave them a clue as towhere you were. This line, that’s the bank where you opened an account a few weeks ago. This is the hospital.”
I swallowed. I couldn’t make sense of anything on the screen.
“It doesn’t really matter. They know I’m here,” I muttered.
“You’re not in a conservatorship,” Grant added, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We found no trace of that. You’re free,” Dego concluded.
I should have been happy, but I didn’t feel… I didn’t feel free.
Pete looked at Grant, and I realized quite suddenly that there was more.
“But the trust fund,” Dego continued, his mouth forming a hard line before he continued, “it was never tied to you at all. It’s a separate savings account under your mother’s name. Under her control.”
“I don’t care about that,” I cut in.
“You should. This money was being used to control your life,” Pete said, but I shook my head.
“I don’t care. I don’t need the money. I don’t want their money. I just want to be… free of them. I want my own life.”
“There are several charges you could make against them at this point,” Dego went on. “You were, by all accounts, held against your will by your parents.”
